The invention relates to a combination of a securing eye and a holding plate.
Such combinations are used for example in luggage or load compartments of motor vehicles (passenger motor vehicles and heavy goods vehicles), wherein the individual securing eyes, which are generally fastened to panels of the body structure (holding plates), can be utilized as lashing points for example for lashing straps by means of which luggage or cargo can be secured in the luggage or load compartments of the motor vehicles.
At present, such securing eyes are generally screwed to the associated holding plates. This involves in particular a not insignificant level of outlay for the mounting process. Also, such a screw connection of the securing eyes generally necessitates that a threaded nut be welded to the rear side of the panel, which involves considerable outlay.
The invention is based on the object of specifying a fastening eye provided in particular for use in a luggage or load compartment of a motor vehicle, which fastening eye can be mounted in as simple a manner as possible by fastening to the associated holding plate.
Said object is achieved by means of a combination of a securing eye and a holding plate as claimed in patent claim 1. Advantageous refinements thereof are claimed in the further patent claims and will emerge from the following description of the invention.
The invention is based on the concept of connecting a securing eye to the associated holding plate exclusively by way of one or more plug-in connections, which permits simple and in particular also rapid mounting without the use of tools. For a plug-in connection of said type, it is furthermore not necessary for a fastening element, such as in particular a threaded nut, to be integrated into the holding plate. Rather, simple openings in the holding plate may suffice as connecting elements for said plug-in connection.
It must however be taken into consideration that a securing eye of said type may be and is intended to be subjected to high forces, and that an undesired release of the connection between the securing eye and the holding plate, be it under load or in the absence of external load, must be prevented. The possibility of relatively easy release of said connection would however be advantageous, for example for the purposes of exchanging the securing eye during the course of maintenance or repair work. It sought to meet these requirements in a simple manner with regard to construction and mounting in that the securing eye has at least two parts which can be separately secured to the holding plate by way of plug-in connections, wherein one of the parts serves primarily for supporting the forces, acting on the securing eye, on the holding plate, whereas the other part is intended primarily to prevent a release of the plug-in connection that connects the first part to the holding plate.
Accordingly, as claimed in the invention, a generic combination of a securing eye and a single-layer or multi-layer holding plate, wherein the securing eye has a fastening portion and an eye portion, is characterized in that the fastening portion comprises a first fastening part, which incorporates the eye portion, and a second fastening part, wherein the first fastening part has a fastening element which can be brought into a positive connecting effect with the holding plate by means of a rotational and/or translational mounting movement of the first fastening part, and wherein the second fastening part can be fastened to the holding plate and, in the fastened state, prevents the positive connection between the first fastening part and the holding plate from being released.
It may preferably be provided here that the fastening element comprises at least one fastening hook which, in order to form the positive connection, engages behind an opening in the holding plate. Accordingly, the fastening hook may have a first portion, which extends through the opening, and an end portion, which is oriented at an angle with respect to the first portion and which thus, in the connected state of the first fastening part, extends along that side of the holding plate which faces away from the main part, which comprises the eye portion, of the securing eye. A positive connection can be produced easily by means of a fastening hook of said type, for example by virtue of the end portion of the fastening hook being inserted into the opening of the holding plate while the first fastening part is in an oblique orientation, and then being moved behind the corresponding portion of the holding plate by way of a rotational movement of the first fastening part. It may also be provided that the end portion of the fastening hook is moved behind the corresponding portion of the holding plate by way of a translational movement along the holding plate. A further advantage of a fastening hook to be mounted in this way lies in the possibility of designing said fastening hook to be highly stable, because, for the mounting process, no deformation of the fastening hook is necessary, by contrast to the situation in the case of a latching connection, for example. Thus, the realization of a positive connection by means of a fastening hook of said type is advantageous in particular for the first fastening part which incorporates the eye portion and which preferably serves primarily for supporting the load, acting on the eye portion, on the holding plate.
In a preferred refinement of the combination as claimed in the invention, it may be provided that the second fastening part has at least one fastening hook which, with the second fastening part in the fastened state, engages behind an opening in the holding plate in order to produce a connection of the second fastening part to the holding plate.
Here, the fastening hook of the second fastening part may in particular also be formed as that element which, by acting as a stop, prevents a release of the positive connection of the first fastening part to the holding plate. In particular, it may also be provided that the first fastening part supports a load, acting on the ring portion, on the fastening hook of the second fastening part. For this purpose, it may particularly preferably be provided that the first fastening part forms at least one second fastening hook which, with the second fastening part in the fastened state, engages behind the fastening hook of said second fastening part and is thus supported thereon.
It may thus be provided that loads exerted on the securing eye via the eye portion are also supported on the holding plate by the second fastening part. It should however then preferably be provided that such loads are supported primarily by the first fastening part and only to a reduced extent by the second fastening part. This may advantageously be achieved by virtue of the shortest distance between the eye portion and the first fastening hook of the first fastening element being smaller than the shortest distance between the eye portion and the fastening hook of the second fastening part.
By means of such an embodiment of the securing eye of the combination as claimed in the invention, wherein loads on the eye portion are supported on the holding plate primarily by the first fastening part, it can advantageously be made possible that only the first fastening part and/or the ring portion is formed from metal (in particular steel), whereas the second fastening part, which is not subjected to load or is subjected only to low load, may be formed from plastic. Such formation of the second fastening part from plastic permits inexpensive production, for example by injection molding, while at the same time realizing a large degree of freedom with regard to the shaping of the second fastening part. In this way, said fastening part may advantageously simultaneously be designed as a cover for the first fastening part, which may have both visual and functional advantages.
It is provided that the second fastening part is (directly or indirectly) fastened to the holding plate by way of a complete fastening, that is to say a fastening which acts in all directions. In particular in the case of a design of the second fastening part wherein the latter has a fastening hook on which, preferably, a second fastening hook of the first fastening part is supported, a complete fastening of said type can be realized by virtue of the second fastening part also additionally having a latching element in order to form a latching connection with the holding plate. A mounting process of the second fastening part, by way of which the positive connection of the first fastening part to the holding plate is also simultaneously secured, can then be achieved by virtue of the fastening hook of the second fastening part being moved, by way of a rotational and/or translational insertion movement of the second fastening part, into a position in which said fastening hook engages behind the corresponding opening in the holding plate, while at the end of said insertion movement, the latching element latches into a corresponding recess or opening of the holding plate.
An advantageous distribution of the forces which, when load is exerted on the eye portion of the securing eye, are transmitted by the individual elements which realize a connection between the securing eye and the holding plate can be achieved in that the fastening element of the first fastening part and/or the portion, incorporating the eye portion, of the first fastening part is arranged between the fastening hook and the latching element of the second fastening part in the fastened state of the second fastening part. By means of such an embodiment of the securing eye, it is possible, in particular in combination with the furthermore preferred embodiment in which the point at which the eye portion is incorporated is arranged closer to the fastening element of the first fastening part than to the fastening hook of the second fastening part, to achieve that the greatest forces are supported by the fastening element, which is preferably in the form of a fastening hook, of the first fastening part. Then, the fastening hook of the second fastening part, which is preferably formed from plastic, only has to support considerably lower forces, and the latching element of the second fastening part only has to support even further reduced forces.
It may basically be provided that the fastening element of the first fastening part and the fastening hook and the latching element of the second fastening part engage into one and the same opening of the holding plate. This may however have the effect that said opening must be relatively large, which may adversely affect the stability of the connection of the securing eye to the holding plate. It may therefore advantageously be provided that the holding plate has at least two openings for receiving the first fastening element of the first fastening part and/or the fastening hook of the second fastening part and/or the fastening element of the second fastening part. In particular, in each case one opening may be provided in the holding plate for receiving the fastening element of the first fastening part, the fastening hook of the second fastening part and the latching element of the second fastening part.
To further simplify the mounting of the securing eye of the combination as claimed in the invention, it may preferably be provided that the first fastening part and the second fastening part are connected to one another in a movable manner. For this purpose, it may be provided in particular that the second fastening part has a prong which is guided in an (in particular slot-shaped) opening of the first fastening part, wherein the prong (in particular at a free prong end) has a projection serving as a stop. Owing to the movable connection between the first fastening part and the second fastening part, the securing eye can be formed in the manner of a unit, thus making it possible for the mounting process to be performed easily and in particular also using one hand.
It may preferably be provided for the securing eye that the eye portion is pivotable relative to the fastening portion. It is thus possible to prevent a bending load being exerted on the eye portion as a result of a load direction oriented obliquely with respect to the holding plate. Furthermore, it is made possible in this way for the eye portion to be pivoted against the fastening portion and/or or the holding plate in particular when the securing eye is not in use, for example in order to prevent said fastening portion from protruding into a luggage compartment of a motor vehicle.
A pivotable design of the eye portion may be realized in a structurally simple manner by virtue of the eye portion comprising a ring component which is held in a rotationally movable manner in a receptacle of the first fastening part and/or between the first fastening part and the holding plate. Such an embodiment of the securing eye furthermore makes it possible for the first fastening part and/or the ring component to be formed as a bent part, which is easy to produce.
Here, it may preferably be provided that the ring component is held positively in the receptacle. For this purpose, a latching projection may be provided which is temporarily elastically deformed when inserting the ring component into the receptacle and, after returning to its initial state, effects the corresponding fixing of the ring component in the receptacle.
The securing eye may be provided in particular for use in a luggage compartment or load compartment of a motor vehicle. The holding plate may then in particular be a wall or floor surface in the luggage or load compartment. The wall or floor surface may in this case also be a body part of the motor vehicle, composed for example of fiber-reinforced plastic (for example CFRP) or of sheet metal.
The indefinite article (“a”, “an”), in particular in the patent claims and in the above description generally explaining the patent claims, should be understood as such and not as numerals. Components accordingly specified thereby should thus be understood as being present at least once, it being possible for them to be present multiple times.